Crabs, lobsters and shrimp now have a family tree dating 500 million years

APRIL 24, 2019

by Chrystian Tejedor, Florida International University

Researchers have for the first time traced the roots of crabs, lobsters and shrimp to create the family tree of crustaceans people love to eat.

The tree shows the 450-million-year evolution of these 10-legged decapods, when lobsters and crabs each diversified from a single evolutionary origin. Groups of shrimpevolved earlier.

The findings are part of a massive family tree project where researchers resolved the deep evolutionary relationships between crabs, shrimp and lobsters. The discoveries made by analyzing more than 400 genes from 94 species could also inform conservation policies to ensure their longevity.

"Understanding the origins of biodiversity across half a billion years in groups that are extremely ecologically and economically important is fascinating," said FIU marine sciences professor Heather Bracken-Grissom, the anchor author of the study. "This is extremely important since studying and preserving biodiversity needs to be at the forefront of our efforts in the biological sciences and across humanity"

The boom of diversification for crabs, lobsters and shrimp may coincide with the spread of modern reef-building corals, Bracken-Grissom said. It is possible the emergence of reef-building corals provided new habits for decapods to colonize and diversify, leading to the emergence of several new lineages after the mass extinction of life on Earth 250 million years ago.

While the study produced the largest amount of genetic information about decapods, more work remains to be done including the addition of more species to better understand species-level relationships. The researchers hope the newly generated genomic resources will be used by others interested in decapod crustaceans for years to come.

Continued

'Hobbit' Shrimp with Hairy Feet Discovered Living Inside Hole in Sea Squirt

By Jasmin Malik Chua, Live Science Contributor | June 11, 2018 05:00pm ET

Scientists have discovered a new species of "hobbit shrimp" that shares more than a feature or two with the protagonist of J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 children's fantasy novel.

The diminutive size and eight hairy limbs of the critter, dubbed Odontonia bagginsi, recall Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant halfling hero who found a magical ring, dueled giant spiders and plundered the hoard of a centuries-old dragon in Tolkien's "The Hobbit," according to Werner de Gier, a biology student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and his supervisor, Charles H. J. M. Fransen, a shrimp researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center. The duo recently described their finding in ZooKeys, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal.

Instead of hiding out in a hole in the ground, however, O. bagginsi lives inside tunicates — marine invertebrates colloquially known as sea squirts — that have sac-like bodies and pairs of tubular openings, called siphons, that draw in or expel water, the researchers said. [Star Struck: Species Named After Celebrities]

Read on  

Snapping shrimp may act as 'dinner bell' for gray whales off Oregon coast

Date:  February 13, 2018

Source:  American Geophysical Union

Summary:

Scientists have for the first time captured the sounds of snapping shrimp off the Oregon coast and think the loud crackling from the snapping of their claws may serve as a dinner bell for eastern Pacific gray whales.

     

Read on 

New shrimp species named after Pink Floyd

12 April 2017

A new species of shrimp has been named after Pink Floyd thanks to a pact between prog rock-loving scientists.

The synalpheus pinkfloydi uses its large pink claw to create a noise so loud it can kill small fish.

The team behind the discovery vowed years ago if it ever found a new pink shrimp it would "honour" the rockers.

Sammy De Grave, head of research at Oxford University Museum of National History, said he has been a fan of the band since he was a teenager.

And it is not the first crustacean he's named after a rock legend, having already named a species of shrimp after Rolling Stones front man, Mick Jagger - elephantis jaggerai.

Image copyright Kate Pocklington Image caption Pink Floyd-themed artwork was created to make the discovery 

He said: "I have been listening to Floyd since The Wall was released in 1979, when I was 14 years old. 

"The description of this new species of pistol shrimp was the perfect opportunity to finally give a nod to my favourite band.

"We are all Pink Floyd fans, and we always said if we would find a pink one, a new species of pink shrimp, we would name it after Pink Floyd."

Continued  

Study shows rising ocean acidification likely to cause shrimp to taste bad

10 hours ago by Bob Yirka

 

Credit: National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration

(Phys.org)—A study conducted by a small team of researchers with members from the U.K., Sweden and Canada has revealed that in the future as the oceans become more acidic, it appears likely that the taste of shrimp will become less appealing. In their paper published in the Journal of Shellfish Research, the team describes how they raised test shrimp in higher than normal acidic water and then held taste tests with volunteers.

Continued ...

WHAT IS IT? Shrimp-like creature baffles fisherman

A keen fisherman from New Zealand was left baffled when he caught this translucent shrimp like creature swimming near the surface of the ocean.

Stewart Fraser, was fishing with sons Conaugh and Finn 40 miles north of the Karikari Peninsula when he spotted the mysterious 'shrimp' floating near the top of the sea.

Stewart said: "I was in two minds whether to haul it in, but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to take a closer look.

Fisherman Stewart Fraser has no idea what he caught [CATERS]

He added: "It felt scaly and was quite firm, almost jelly like, and you couldn't see anything inside aside from this orange little blob inside it.

The photo baffled Stewart and all of his fisherman friends, who are still none more the wise as to what the creature could have been.

Continued

Teenage diver has teeth cleaned by a shrimp after waiting patiently in queue of fishes

Having your teeth picked clean by a shrimp after enticing it into your mouth is certainly more exotic than using a tube of toothpaste.

Young diver Russell Laman had tiny bits of food removed by the cleaner shrimp after waiting in line with a queue of fish, in Bali, Indonesia.

‘It felt like tiny little dentists picking away at my teeth and scuttling around my mouth,’ said the 13-year-old.

‘It tickled a little but not too badly.’

The teenager said he thought having the fish cater to his dentistry needs would be ‘cool’.

He added: ‘It is a large part of the ecosystem underwater and many fish rely on the shrimp so I decided to rely on them as well.’

Russell’s father, Tim, of Lexington, Massachusetts, in the US, took photos at the ‘cleaning station’.

He said: ‘It really is pretty amazing that these little shrimp immediately recognize a human mouth as analogous to a fish mouth and go in looking for bits of food.’

http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/08/teenage-diver-has-teeth-cleaned-by-a-shrimp-after-waiting-patiently-in-queue-of-fishes-4138333/

Beached shrimp in Chile: The strangest objects washed ashore

The unusual sight of millions of dead shrimp in Chile is far from the first time bizarre objects have washed up on the world's coastlines.

The bizarre sight of millions of dead shrimp washed up on the coast of Santiago has baffled Chileans and marine experts alike.

Environmental officials are investigating after huge swathes of the tiny red sea creatures washed up on a beach in Coronel, 330 miles south of Chile's capital, Santiago.

Prosecutors say the bizarre incident could've been an environmental crime, and local fishermen say regional power firms for overheating the waters, endangering the lives of marine wildlife.

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/shrimp-washed-up-chile--bizarre-objects-on-beaches-145003624.html#1CFK3Mq

Relative of 'killer shrimp' found in Worcestershire waterways

A relative of the "killer shrimp" has been found in Worcestershire, the Environment Agency (EA) has said.

The non-native shrimp, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes, has been found in the River Severn at Tewkesbury and Bevere, near Worcester.

The EA said it was the first time the shrimp had been found in the UK and it had also been discovered in two Worcestershire canals.

It said experts were "uncertain at this stage" what its impact might be.

The species was found after samples were taken from the River Severn at the request of Severn Trent Water and experts then identified them.

APEM, an environmental consultancy specialising in water science and ecology, said one of its scientists, Grant Ridley, identified Dikerogammarus haemobaphes in a sample from Severn Trent Water.

The EA said that in Europe, the shrimp "kills and competes with a range of native species" and scavenges and eats plant matter, which "alters the ecology of the habitat".

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-19828575

200-Year-Old 'Monster Larva' Mystery Solved

For nearly two centuries, scientists have pulled so-called "monster larva" from the guts of fish and wondered what these thick-bodied creatures looked like as grown-ups. Now one biologist believes he has finally matched the larva with its adult counterpart.

"It's very exciting to have solved a nearly 200-year-old conundrum," Keith Crandall, a biology professor at George Washington University, said in a statement.

Drawing from genetic evidence, Crandall reported in the journal Ecology and Evolution this month that the larva, Cerataspis monstrosa, is actually a baby version of the deep-water aristeid shrimp known as Plesiopenaeus armatus.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/22731-200-year-old-monster-larva-mystery-solved.html

Scientists: Giant cannibal shrimp invasion growing

An invasion of giant cannibal shrimp into America's coastal waters appears to be getting worse.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday that sightings of the massive Asian tiger shrimp, which can eat their smaller cousins, were 10 times higher in 2011 than in 2010.

“And they are probably even more prevalent than reports suggest, because the more fisherman and other locals become accustomed to seeing them, the less likely they are to report them,” said Pam Fuller, a USGS biologist.

The shrimp, which can grow to 13 inches long, are native to Asian and Australian waters and have been reported in coastal waters from North Carolina to Texas.

They can be consumed by humans.

"They're supposed to be very good. But they can get very large, sorta like lobsters," Fuller said.

While they may make good eatin' for people, it's the eating the giant shrimp do themselves that worries scientists.

"Are they competing with or preying on native shrimp," Fuller asked. "It's also very disease-prone."

To try to get those answers, government scientists are launching a special research project on the creatures.

“The Asian tiger shrimp represents yet another potential marine invader capable of altering fragile marine ecosystems,” NOAA marine ecologist James Morris said in a statement. “Our efforts will include assessments of the biology and ecology of this non-native species and attempts to predict impacts to economically and ecologically important species of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.”

Continued:  http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/26/scientists-giant-cannibal-shrimp-invasion-growing/?hpt=us_r1

Anglers' fears over killer shrimp on Norfolk Broads

The Broads Authority earlier this month issued a call to water users to help control the spread of the voracious predator dikerogammarus villosus after a few specimens, smaller than a 20p piece, were found at Barton Turf on the edge of Barton Broad.

A working party set up by the authority in co-operation with the Environment Agency and Natural England has now discovered the shrimp in all parts of the broad, along the River Ant and spreading into the River Bure.

John Currie, regional organiser for the Pike Angling Club of Great Britain, said: “We are at the start of something which is going to have an impact on angling and the whole leisure economy.

“We don’t yet know how big that impact will be on the Broads, but we could be in big trouble.”

A spokesman for the Angling Trust described the latest news as a “devastating blow for anglers”.

The authority’s senior ecologist, Andrea Kelly, said the shrimp, which has spread from eastern Europe over the last 15 years, was now top of the Broads Most Wanted list of invasive species threatening its delicate ecosystem.

Read more:  http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/environment/anglers_fears_over_killer_shrimp_on_norfolk_broads_1_1332403

Ecologist searches for new shrimp species in Guernsey

An ecologist hopes to find previously undiscovered fresh water creatures in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Lee Knight, from Devon, has spent 14 years travelling the UK looking for new species of cave dwelling blind shrimp.

He said little was know about the cave fauna so new species were often being discovered worldwide.

Mr Knight said as recently as 2010, a species never before seen in Britain had been discovered in a cave on the Mendip Hills of Somerset.

He said: "Work has found they are more widespread then first thought.

"In the entire Channel Islands there's only four records, one of which is from Guernsey and due to a lack of any sort of systematic survey work I highly suspected we will find other species, and certainly new records for current species."

The Guernsey report was of a species known as niphargus aquilex, which was found in St Martin in 1907.

Mr Knight is due to visit Guernsey, Alderney and Sark later this year and has asked islanders with wells or boreholes to give him permission to explore their underwater systems by contacting the Guernsey Biological Records Centre.

He said the sample process involved lowering a net, with an attached weight, to the sediment at the bottom of wells and boreholes, where the creatures are generally thought to live.

The net is then pulled up and down a few times to disturb the sediment before the net is hauled to the surface, hopefully catching shrimps on the way.

Mr Knight said the process is repeated three times at each site and his equipment could take samples down to 100m in depth and boreholes as small as 5cm in diameter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-16831751

'Jealous' Hermaphrodite Shrimp Murder Their Rivals

Like creepy stalkers, cleaner shrimp won't share their partner with anyone else. When placed in groups of more than two, the creatures attack in the dark of night, killing off the competition.

"We enlarged the group size to triplets and quartets, and we observed the molting cycle and the interactions between individuals,'' study researcher Janine Wong, of the University of Basel in Switzerland, told LiveScience."In this species, the shrimp usually live in pairs. We were wondering, because monogamy is quite susceptible to cheating, if these individuals would stay in monogamous pairs."

They didn't.

Sperm or egg?
Cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) pairs make their living picking parasites from fish. They stake out their cleaning stations and wait for fish to stop by their storefront. Each shrimp is a hermaphrodite, meaning it can reproduce as both a male and a female, though it can't fertilize its own eggs.

In times of high competition for a mate, each shrimp makes fewer eggs and more sperm, since the eggs are more cost-intensive to produce and one individual's sperm can fertilize many eggs. The goal is to pass on one's genes, and in this case, sperm will do the trick. When two shrimp pair up in a monogamous relationship, however, they shift to making more eggs and less sperm, since there isn't competition for who is going to fertilize whom.

This type of social monogamy is only found in shrimp with cleaning behavior, Wong said, possibly because these cleaner shrimp stick to their territory instead of going around and searching for food.

Shrimp squabbles
Wong and her colleagues placed two, three or four cleaner shrimp together in a group (repeated 10 times for each condition). By the time 42 days had passed, every tank was down to two shrimp.
The shrimp are only vulnerable to attack right after they have molted, when their outer skins made of keratin are thin. To avoid predators, they molt during the night. Though the shrimp weren't aggressive during the day, at night they ganged up on any freshly molted tank-mates.

"During daytime, there were no aggressive interactions observable, they were just sitting next to each other or ignoring each other. You couldn't predict from their behavior during the daytime who would be the next victim," Wong said. "The individual that died had just molted a few hours before. Because the keratin didn't harden yet, they were very vulnerable and easy targets."

Territorial terrors
These shrimp, regardless of whether they are paired up, usually molt every two weeks. In high-competition environments, with three or four shrimp per tank, they molt less frequently. Wong's team noticed that after murdering their extra tank mates, the killer shrimp would return to their regular molting schedule.

In the threesomes, the victim was usually the smallest in the tank, but in the quartet, the same trend wasn't obvious. It wasn't always the first shrimp to molt that was done in, either. The researchers aren't sure yet why certain shrimp lived while others were killed.

This tank is an artificial environment compared with the wild, where the shrimp could just swim away when threatened. Researchers aren't sure how these L. amboinensis act in the wild, but they are very territorial. It's more likely that a "third wheel" type would be chased away from the mating pair's cleaning station, and the murderous rage would be much lower.

The study was published Thursday (Nov. 10) in the journal Frontiers of Zoology.
You can follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter @microbelover. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

http://www.livescience.com/16985-cleaner-shrimp-murder-rivals.html

Invasive 'killer' shrimp found at two sites in Wales

The shrimp has spread across western Europe over the past 10 years


A "killer" shrimp that feeds on native counterparts, young fish and insect larvae has been found at two sites in Wales, says the Environment Agency.

The predatory Dikerogammarus villosus alters the ecology of habitats it invades, and can cause extinctions.

It was found in the UK at a reservoir in Cambridgeshire in September.

Environment Agency Wales said it has now been confirmed at Cardiff Bay and Eglwys Nunydd Reservoir in Port Talbot. It is not known how it arrived there.

Originally from the steppe region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, D. villosus has spread across most of Western Europe during the last 10 years.

The alien invader can be as small as 3mm but may grow up to 30mm long, making it much larger than native freshwater shrimp.

Dubbed the killer shrimp by biologists for its appetite, it often kills its prey and leaves it uneaten.

Spreading
The Welsh Assembly Government has set up an all-Wales group to contain the species as much as possible.

It includes Environment Agency Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales, Cardiff Harbour Authority and the owners of Eglwys Nunydd.

People using the waters are urged to clean and dry equipment when leaving the water to prevent the species from spreading.

Environment Agency Wales director Chris Mills said: "Despite the fearsome name, these are not a threat to people, but the damage they can cause to our environment here in Wales is a very real danger.

"Because of what they eat and the rate that they eat it, it can alter the food chain and our ecosystem by increasing the competition for food and the native species that rely on the insects could go elsewhere.

"We will continue with our monitoring work across Wales to identify any other water recreation spots where they could be to see how widespread the problem has become."

Alien 'killer' shrimp found in UK (Via Carl Portman)

An invasive species of predatory shrimp has been found in the UK for the first time.

The animal was spotted by anglers at the Grafham Water reservoir in Cambridgeshire and sent to the Environment Agency for identification.

The shrimp preys on a range of native species, such as freshwater invertebrates - particularly native shrimp - and even young fish.

This alters the ecology of habitats it invades, and could cause extinctions.

According to the Environment Agency, the animal, known as Dikerogammarus villosus, often kills its prey and leaves it uneaten.

Insects such as damselflies and water boatmen could be at risk, with knock-on effects on the species which feed on them.

D. villosus has spread across most of Western Europe over the last 10 years. It can be as small as 3mm but may grow up to 30mm long, making it much larger than native freshwater shrimp.

After the discovery by the anglers, an expert in Holland conclusively identified the species.

Dr Paul Leinster, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: "We are devastated that this shrimp has been found in Britain... We are currently establishing the degree of the problem, and whether the shrimp is only in Grafham Water or if it is in nearby lakes and the Great Ouse as well."

The shrimp is native to the steppe region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It is believed to have invaded Western Europe via the Danube.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11246642

NASA discovers life hidden 600 feet below Antarctic ice

A three-inch long Lyssianasid amphipod (seen in orange) was found on the underside of the McMurdo ice shelf in Antarctica.

March 16th, 2010

Six hundred feet below the Antarctic ice, where no light can be found, NASA scientists made a startling discovery – a swimming shrimp-like creature that could challenge the idea of where and how forms of life can survive.

While the creature is small itself -– only about three inches long -– its impact could be tremendous.

A NASA team had lowered a small video camera to get the first-ever photograph of the underside of an ice shelf – and that’s when they saw the swimming creature, according to a NASA document.

The discovery could shake the very foundation of what kind of creatures can survive in certain atmospheres.

"We were operating on the presumption that nothing's there," NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler told the Associated Press. "It was a shrimp you'd enjoy having on your plate."

"We were just gaga over it," he told the AP.

The creature, a Lyssianasid amphipod, could lead the way for larger expeditions into harsher environments that scientists previously believed could not support life – both on the Earth and even frozen moons in outer space.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/16/nasa-discovers-life-hidden-600-feet-below-antarctic-ice/
(Submitted by T. Peter Park)

Tourist poo 'killed rare shrimp' on Uluru

By Eric Tlozek

A wildlife scientist says people relieving themselves on top of Uluru may have killed off a rare species of shrimp.

Retired university professor Brian Timms says he has studied museum specimens of small inland shrimp that live in pools on top of Uluru.

He says his research shows the localised extinction of one species of fairy shrimp and the dominance of another - changes which could be due to human waste.

"It's happened already that the people going up the rock somehow have affected the animals which live in the pools, possibly by peeing on the rock and pooing on the rock," he said.

He says the Branchinella Latzi shrimp species, which once inhabited rock pools on Uluru, has not been found in collections since about the 1970s.

"Latzi is a very limited species and it might be susceptible to enrichment of the pools whereas [the other species on Uluru] is a widespread, tough species," he said.

"Certainly if they [tourists] go up, they should be behaving themselves, not pooing on the rock."

Earlier this month an Uluru tour guide told the ABC that tourists climbing the rock are sometimes defecating at the top because there are no toilets available.

The Director of National Parks continues to assess submissions on a draft management plan for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which proposes banning climbers from the rock for cultural, safety and environmental reasons.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/29/2699826.htm